By Bezalel Naor In the year 5710/1950, in honor of the tenth of Shevat, the yahrzeit of his paternal grandmother Rebbetzin Rivkah, Rabbi Yosef Yitshak Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, composed and distributed a ma’amar (discourse) to be studied on that day. As Divine Providence would have it, the tenth of Shevat (which fell on a […]
BOOK REVIEW BY BEZALEL NAOR Maimonides Between Philosophy and Halakhah: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed Edited with an Introduction by Lawrence J. Kaplan (KTAV/Urim: Jerusalem, 2016) 256 pp. US $28.95 In the late 1970s, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik entrusted Lawrence Kaplan with the formidable task of translating his classic […]
Said Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha: One time I entered to offer incense in the inner sanctum, and I saw Akatriel, Yah, Adonai Tseva’ot sitting upon an exalted throne, and He said to me, “Ishmael, my son, bless me.” I said to Him: “May it be Your will that Your compassion conquer Your wrath; and Your […]
There is no generation that does not take an ounce of the deed of the Calf. (Midrash Rabbah) Or as the great French Bible commentator Rashi paraphrased: “There is no calamity that befalls Israel that is not partial payment for the sin of the Calf” (Exodus 32:34). To what were the sages of Israel alluding? […]
Bridging the Kabbalistic Gap Nefesh HaTzimtzum by Avinoam Fraenkel Vol. 1: Rabbi Chaim Volozhin’s Nefesh HaChaim with Translation and Commentary Volume 2: Understanding Nefesh HaChaim through the Key Concept of Tzimtzum and Related Writings (Jerusalem: Urim, 2015) Reviewed by Bezalel Naor Recently there has been a spate of English translations of the classic of Mitnagdic […]
Four Liberating Strategies By Bezalel Naor In the non-Jewish world, the second of the Five Books of Moses is referred to as “Exodus.” Scholars tell us that this name derived once upon a time from Jewish sages; the Hebrew “Yetsi’at Mitsrayim” was translated into Greek: Exodus. The medieval Spanish commentator Nahmanides does in fact refer […]
Thoughts on Rav Kook’s 80th Yahrzeit, 3 Ellul 5775/August 17-18, 2015: Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935) served as the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Erets Israel. He was a preeminent Talmudist and Halachist, as well as mystic and poet. Revered as the seer of the rebirth of Israel in its land, Rav Kook had a […]
Book Launch of Sefer Kana’uteh de-Pinhas (Lintop) at Seforim Sale Recorded at Yeshiva University, February 1, 2015 Audio of Editor Rabbi Bezalel Naor speaking
Israel’s Reaffirmation of Vows If one reads the narrative of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai purely through the Biblical lens, unaided by Rabbinic commentary, the acceptance of the Torah on the part of Israel appears to be totally volitional. The shorter version of Israel’s formal acceptance reads: “The entire people responded together […]
Ben Shanah Shaul
ra’ayonot ‘al ha-torah ve-ha-mo’adim,
hiddushim ‘al sha”s,
‘inyenei halakha
English subtitle: Saul Nyer Memorial Volume
Includes correspondence with Rabbi Shelomo Fisher, Jerusalem;
Dr. Israel Ziderman and Baruch Sterman, Jerusalem;
Rabbi Moshe Brown, New York; Rabbi Hershel Reichman, New York.
pp. 298, (6).
Download the full PDF version here: Ben Shana Shaul
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